Minimum current draw on the Fluval SP pumps?

shoggoth43 · 03/15/2015, 09:02 PM

After some minor experimentation on my old Marineland NJ5500 pump, using a Kill-a-Watt meter I found it was using 63 Watts. If I throttled it down with a gate valve I could reduce the current draw further down to 49Watts when it was fully closed. On paper it's rated at 75 Watts, some sites had it listed at 85. I suspect the 3/4 inch return was effectively throttling it back as the outlet is 1" on that pump, hence the 63W reading.

I'm looking at picking up a Fluval SP4 or SP6. Right now the difference in cost is fairly minimal. I would expect the SP4 to be somewhere in the 60-70Watt range moving around 1200GPH.

Does anyone know what I should expect the SP6 to draw if throttled down to 1200 GPH? If I throttle it down, should I expect extra vibration or any other issues? That doesn't seem to have been the case with my experiments on the other pump other than the noise level did go up when it was completely closed. Any idea what it might draw fully blocked off, just out of curiosity?

I wouldn't mind getting the larger pump if I can get it to use it at reasonably similar Wattage ranges as what I have. If I'm going to be in the 95+ Watt range at 1200 GPH on the SP6 then it would be a much better idea to simply get the SP4. As I said, the cost difference is minimal or I would just grab the SP4 and be done with it.

Does anyone have an SP6 and a Kill-a-Watt they'd be willing to test with?

-
S

ksed · 03/16/2015, 05:11 AM

The Fluval Sp4 is rated up to 1822 gph @ 88 watts the Sp6 is 3434 gph @ 135.

I would not throttle back at pump more than 60%. There might be some cooling issues. Besides if you have throttle back that much the just go with the smaller one.

03/15/2015, 09:02 PM	#1
shoggoth43 Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 10	Minimum current draw on the Fluval SP pumps? After some minor experimentation on my old Marineland NJ5500 pump, using a Kill-a-Watt meter I found it was using 63 Watts. If I throttled it down with a gate valve I could reduce the current draw further down to 49Watts when it was fully closed. On paper it's rated at 75 Watts, some sites had it listed at 85. I suspect the 3/4 inch return was effectively throttling it back as the outlet is 1" on that pump, hence the 63W reading. I'm looking at picking up a Fluval SP4 or SP6. Right now the difference in cost is fairly minimal. I would expect the SP4 to be somewhere in the 60-70Watt range moving around 1200GPH. Does anyone know what I should expect the SP6 to draw if throttled down to 1200 GPH? If I throttle it down, should I expect extra vibration or any other issues? That doesn't seem to have been the case with my experiments on the other pump other than the noise level did go up when it was completely closed. Any idea what it might draw fully blocked off, just out of curiosity? I wouldn't mind getting the larger pump if I can get it to use it at reasonably similar Wattage ranges as what I have. If I'm going to be in the 95+ Watt range at 1200 GPH on the SP6 then it would be a much better idea to simply get the SP4. As I said, the cost difference is minimal or I would just grab the SP4 and be done with it. Does anyone have an SP6 and a Kill-a-Watt they'd be willing to test with? - S

03/16/2015, 05:11 AM	#2
ksed Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,867	The Fluval Sp4 is rated up to 1822 gph @ 88 watts the Sp6 is 3434 gph @ 135. I would not throttle back at pump more than 60%. There might be some cooling issues. Besides if you have throttle back that much the just go with the smaller one.